Variation of winter road surface temperature due to topography and application of Thermal Mapping

Abstract

It is known that topography is an important factor controlling the variation of road surface temperature (RST). In order to explore possible relationships between RST and topography, the authors used Thermal Mapping data obtained by a vehicle-mounted thermometer in a mountainous area in Nevada, USA, under different weather conditions in December 1994. The data were validated against the measurements of road surface sensors. After that, a step-wise regression technique is employed to find out possible statistic relationships between RST and altitude at different surveying routes. It was found that the relationships exhibited different characteristics in different climate domains and under different weather types. In most cases, the relationships were non-linear. In order to obtain more information about the cause of the residuals and the variation, the error of regression fitting is related to near-ground meteorological parameters (air temperature, dew point and wind, etc.). This study proved that Thermal Mapping is a reliable and effective method to display spatial variation of road surface temperature.research and winter maintenance operations that

Modelling of road surface temperature from a geographical parameter database. Part 1: Statistical

“…The result is that on marginal nights, while some stretches of road fall below freezing, the majority of the road network may remain above (Shao et al, 1997). Each road network is subject to a regional climate in addition to a large number of microclimates created as a direct consequence of the parameters outlined in Table 1.…”

“…Shao et al (1997) studied the impact of altitude on RST in Nevada, USA. They showed that altitude had a considerable effect on RST, but the relationship between the variables was often non-linear.…”

Air and road surface temperature variations during weather change

“…Under these conditions the temperature variations are, to a great extent, determined by altitude above sea level (Thornes, 1989;Bogren et al, 1992;Shao et al, 1997;Bogren et al, 2000a).…”

Road Networks Winter Risk Estimation Using On-Board Uncooled Infrared Camera for Surface Temperature Measurements over Two Lanes

“…Thermal mapping, invented in the seventies, has been implemented since the late eighties to measure road pavement temperature along with some other atmospheric parameters to establish the susceptibility of road network to ice occurrence [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. Measurements are mainly done using a vehicle circulating on the road network in given road weather conditions (clear weather, cloudy, wet pavement, etc.…”